Page 128 of Her Tortured Beasts

Xander blinks at him for a moment, registering the threat. He takes a deep breath. “I deserve everything that comes my way. But I’ll protect her if it’s the last thing I do.” He takes a few steps backwards before turning around, putting his hands in his pockets and strolling down the driveway. His power leaves the vicinity, its dominating presence fading, allowing us to breathe normally again.

Scythe and I exchange a look as we watch him leave down the street until he’s out of magical ear shot.

“What the hell happened to him over there?” I mutter.

“They wanted to break her,” Scythe says, shaking his head. “Instead, they broke him. But Xander made his bed. Now he must lie in it and he knows that.” He looks at me and I turn to face him. “If the time comes. If Aurelia cannot, will you…”

“Help you kill him?” I nod. “Of course, brother.”

We are quick to get Aurelia out of there. Animus Academy is far safer for her, both in its regional location and with the magical protections around it.

I want her to see Minnie, Sabrina, and her friends too. It will be good for her to have female support. As it is, when we get ready to leave, she silently shifts into her eagle form. Savage pouts for a moment before he picks her up and cradles her like a babe, swaying back and forth. She rests her head on his bare chest but keeps her eyes open, flicking around and alert to her surroundings.

We take her through the loading dock again, while Scythe gets the car. I know he’s agitated because he insists on driving, needing to do something with his hands and mind before he gives into the urge to destroy something.

Half way through the trip, I announce that it’s my turn with Aurelia. Scythe stops at the side of the road and I hurry into the back seat, almost tearing the buttons of my shirt off as I get ready for her. I have to prise her out of Savage’s hands, and she makes the smallest, sweetest sound of greeting as she opens her eyes.

My smile feels like a new thing as I settle her on my bare chest. “There you go, my sweetheart,” I murmur.

She snuggles into me, making my heart swell and glow with pride and satisfaction. For the first time in what feels like an age, I feel whole.

“I love you, angel,” I remind her.“We’ll be home soon. Sabrina and Minnie will be so happy to see you.”

“Sabrina is there too?”she asks softly into my mind.

“Yes. After the attack on The Lily Institute, we had to relocate the survivors.”

“And the twins?”

“Blair and Blade never leave her side.”

“That makes me happy.”After a few seconds of silence, she says hesitantly,“I promised Sabrina I would kill them all. But I didn’t. I didn’t achieve anything over there. If anything, I just made it worse, Lyle. If I never gave myself up, they never would have gone after The Lily Institute.”

“The Clawsons are the only animalia responsible for that, and they’re a whole different problem,” I say firmly. “Don’t worry. We’re dealing with it.”

She sighs, long and sad, and we settle into listening to each other’s breathing. Hours later, under cover of darkness, we drive through the cast iron gates of Animus Academy.

Aurelia feels it immediately. Anyone who approaches the academy can sense the concentration of feral, volatile powers rumbling through the place. It forces the animal in us to go on alert.

I extract myself and my regina out of the car and follow my brothers back to our room. Back home.

Chapter 78

Aurelia

The next morning, I wake up with a start. My heart rapidly slams into my chest as I expect to see the bars of a cage around me. Expect to hear the voice of Flores Drakos as he fucks his daughter-in-law. My body trembles, my thigh burns and my eyes prickle with tears.

But none of the things I expect to see are here.

Instead of cold, I am warm. Instead of Flores Drakos filling my nose, I scent comfort.

And instead of the bars of my cage pressing against my body I am enveloped by three warm, muscular bodies. My mates’ scents wrap around me, nothing but warmth and comfort soaking deep into my feathers. I realise I’ve been sleeping shifted and that I’m lying on Lyle’s bare chest with Scythe and Savage cuddled up on either side of us.

I scratch at an itch in my side, my beak scraping between my feathers. The movement wakes up Lyle and I turn my head to peer at him.

The sunlight comes through the window in a beam, turning his hair into gold, his eyes into coins. When I first saw him, I thought he looked like the Archangel Michael, come to weigh my worth. But there is only love in his eyes now and a warmth I feelall the way down to the end of my claws as he strokes down my back.

“Let’s shower before these animals wake up,” he murmurs, smiling lazily at me.

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